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Moonrakers and Chocolate Hair[edit]

Jerry Corbetta founded the band Chocolate Hair in late 1968 with guitarist Bob Webber, his bandmate in the Moonrakers; the other bandmembers were drummer Myron Pollock, who'd played previously with Corbetta, plus Webber's friend, bassist Bob Raymond.[1] The Moonrakers had previously released 4 singles on Tower;[2] three of their songs are collected on the Colorado garage rock compilation album Highs in the Mid-Sixties, Volume 18, and another was released earlier on the Pebbles Volume 10 LP.

Name Change and the Liberty Years[edit]

Corbetta and Webber were signed to Frank Slay at this time and began recording demos during 1969. Slay got the band signed to Liberty Records after Liberty liked the demos the band presented to them. Slay then ended up having them put the demos on the album since they sounded so good.

In September 1969 Myron Pollock decided to leave the group and a new drummer, Bob MacVittie, was recruited. Moonrakers singer Veeder Van Dorn was also brought in to sing on the record, making his most notable appearances on the tracks, "Things Gonna Change Some" and "West of Tomorrow", though he didn't end up becoming a permanent member. "Green-Eyed Lady", recorded at Original Sound Studios in Hollywood, California, which featured MacVittie on drums, was a last minute addition to the album, which was released in the very late spring of 1970.

Just before the album's release, however, the legal department at Liberty suggested the name Chocolate Hair might be taken as having racial overtones. The bandmembers agreed to change their moniker to Sugarloaf, the name of a mountain outside of Boulder, Colorado,[3] where Bob Webber resided in an A-frame house.

Just after the first album's release, the group added additional member singer/guitarist/composer Bob Yeazel. Yeazel had previously played in Superband with Jimmy Greenspoon, who would go on to join Three Dog Night. Yeazel would feature heavily on their second album, Spaceship Earth (January 1971), which would only manage to make No. 111, while the two singles taken from it, "Tongue-In-Cheek" and "Mother Nature's Wine", would peak at No. 55 and No. 88 respectively.

During 1970 and 1971, Sugarloaf had a pretty heavy touring schedule that included appearances with The Who, Deep Purple, Eric Burdon & War and other popular acts of the time. On March 16, 1971 they performed at an after party for the 13th Annual Grammy Awards with Aretha Franklin, Three Dog Night and others.

The band became a sextet as they welcomed bassist Bobby Pickett (not the "Monster Mash" performer) on May 16, 1971 and six days later, they appeared on American Bandstand to play "Green Eyed Lady" and "Mother Nature's Wine".

In 1972 Sugarloaf played on the single "I.O.I.O.", a cover of a Bee Gees song recorded by TV actor Butch Patrick that was produced by Frank Slay.

Bob Yeazel and Bobby Pickett both left Sugarloaf sometime in mid-late 1972. Pickett later went on to perform with Etta James, Gregg Allman, the rock group Detective and the Blues group, Cafe R&B. Yeazel stayed in music for awhile playing in various bands. After an eight year break from it, he once again began touring, writing songs and recording demos.

Resumption and Another Hit[edit]

Eventually Liberty decided to drop all their artists and Sugarloaf was in limbo in 1973 as Jerry Corbetta signed to Neil Bogart's Brut Records label, which he had created and distributed, via his Buddah Records imprint, for the BrutFabergé company.

The next album, I Got a Song , released in late 1973, was started as a Corbetta solo record but ended up becoming Sugarloaf's third album when Bob Webber, Bob Raymond and drummer Larry Ferris rejoined Jerry as Sugarloaf to play on the album and began making appearances once again in 1974, including a spot on The Midnight Special that aired that same year on April 19.

But after Brut folded, the group's future was once again in question as Jerry and Frank Slay bought the album back from Bogart and went to a friend's recording studio in Denver in 1974 to record a new song, "Don't Call Us We'll Call You", with session players Paul Humphries (drums), Max Bennett (bass), Ray Payne (guitar) and a group called the Flying Saucers (Jason Hickman, Mikkel Saks and David Queen) on harmony vocals. This song was notable because it contained a practical joke at the expense of CBS Records, which had just turned them down for a recording contract. The song includes the sound of a touch-tonetelephone number being dialed near the beginning and ending of the song. Those numbers were an unlisted phone number at CBS Records and a public number at the White House respectively. In addition, the recording includes snippets of the guitar riff of The Beatles' "I Feel Fine," Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" and a line of dialogue from disc jockey Ken Griffin imitating Wolfman Jack (who would later perform the song live with the group on The Midnight Special) stating the call sign of a radio station; numerous tracks of this line were cut to match local markets. The song was written by Jerry along with Ray Payne's Sweet Pain bandmates J.C. Phillips and David Riordan. "Don't Call Us..." was released in November 1974 on Slay's Claridge Records label and after it took off and peaked at No. 9 in April 1975, the I Got a Song album was quickly re-released under the new title of Don't Call Us We'll Call You with the hit single added in place of another track, "Easy Evil". But the album stalled out at US No. 152 on the Billboard Top 200.

Also in 1974, Corbetta played with the group Disco-Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes on their hit "Get Dancin", that was produced by Bob Crewe, Corbetta's new partner, and contributed to other projects, including the band Chinook.

Another single not on the LP, "Stars in My Eyes", peaked at No. 87 in June 1975 and Sugarloaf realigned with Corbetta, Bob Webber, Bob Raymond and original Chocolate Hair/first album drummer Myron Pollock and toured once again in 1975 behind the success of "Don't Call Us..". A live recording of the band was made at Ebbets Field in Denver in July 1975 that was eventually released in 2006 as the CD Alive in America.

"I Got a Song", the title track of their 1973 album, was released as a single in October 1975 but only "bubbled under" on Billboard at No. 110. A Corbetta solo single, "You Set My Dreams to Music", recorded around this time, ended up in a 1977 film The Legend of Frank Woods and Sugarloaf's final single, "Satisfaction Guaranteed", was released in 1976 but failed to chart. All singles from "Don't Call Us.." on appeared on the Claridge label.

Break Up and Later Years[edit]

By the end of '75, Webber and Raymond were gone from the group and Jerry continued to tour as Jerry Corbetta and Sugarloaf with Myron Pollock (drums), Ray Payne (guitar) and Rusty Buchanan (later with Player) on bass until 1978 when he decided to retire the Sugarloaf name and pursue a solo career. He was also a member of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons from 1980 to 1984.

On June 12, 1985 there was a one/off Sugarloaf reunion at the Colorado Cream Festival that included Corbetta, Bob Yeazel and new players Larry Wilkins (guitar) and Bryan Grassmeyer (bass).

Around 1989 to 1991, Corbetta and Wilkins attempted to get Sugarloaf up and running again with the help of Bob Crewe, but without success.

According to Corbetta, a few times during the 1990s and in 2005, The Classic Rock All-Stars did a few shows as Sugarloaf with a different drummer in place of Rivera. Sadly, Corbetta was forced to retire from performing in 2009 after contracting Pick's disease, a progressive neurological problem similar to Alzheimer's disease.

Former Sugarloaf guitarist Bob Webber went on to become an aerospaceengineer and drummer Bob MacVittie moved to Arkansas and pursued restaurant management.